Frog March! Frog March!

Cheney to testify in Plame Leak! According to the Raw Story website, Patrick Fitzgerald has some kind of evidence linking VP Crashcart to the Libby leak of Plame's name.

I've always said that Baby Doc pulled a Nixon when choosing a vice president: Pick someone that NOBODY wants to see as president, and you've got both an impeachment-proof and an assassination-proof presidency. Despite the fact that I used to have a button, back in the days of the dear departed and roundly unlamented days of our first Imperial Presidency, that said "Lee Harvey Oswald, Where Are You Now that We Really Need You?", not even a psycho nutjob like Artie Bremer would have wanted Spiro Agnew as president, and the same obtains today with Cheney.

Gonzales to Journalists: You're Next

In what appears to be some kind of trial balloon, Grand Inquisitor Alberto "Torquemada" Gonzales hints at prosecution of journalists who publish "classified" information.

Appearing on ABC's talking heads program This Week, Torquemada said that, with regard to tracking down the leak of the secret domestic spying operation, "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," i.e., that the journalists who published the story could be prosecuted.

Prosecuted for disclosing an illegal government operation. Prosecuted for doing their fucking jobs.

"I will say that I understand very much the role that the press plays in our society, the protection under the First Amendment we want to promote and respect, the right of the press. But it can't be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity," Torquemada said, without a trace of irony, while seeming to deny that the government would wiretap the telephones of journalists.

Jesus, isn't it enough that they have the majority of the lapdog media slavering at their feet? Now they have to track down and stifle the last few reporters who have not sold out their dignity and their souls to the corrupt corporate neofascist BFEE regime.

Veterans' Records Stolen -- Identity Theft Alert

The breaking news today is that an employee of the VA took information home without authorization and immediately let it get stolen by burglars.

The stolen information included the names, birthdates and Social Security numbers for over 26 million veterans. In short, the ideal recipe for massive identity theft.

All living veterans who were discharged after 1976 are affected by this crime -- and at 26.5 million, that's a lot of people.

The government has set up a special alert on the firstgov.gov website at http://www.firstgov.gov/veteransinfo.shtml, but if you look at it closely it's pretty circular with the internal links that send you back to firstgov.gov and then back to the page.

The VA is saying, in essence, "don't worry -- we're from the government and we're here to help". But rather than trust them, the wise veteran will monitor his/her credit closely over the next few months.

I kind of feel sorry for the poor sap who was burglarized; he will no doubt lose his job over this -- it's too big an issue for him not to be severely disciplined -- but on the other hand you have to ask what the fuck were you thinking???

"Supporting" the Troops -- Again

The Army Times is carrying a story headlined "VA: Some veterans wrongly denied care".

The story says that "some medical benefits, such as home-based treatment, adult day care and respite care, have been improperly denied to eligible veterans".

Surprise, suprise. The Baby Doc Maladminstration has no qualms about sending these people to war, to get killed, to get limbs blown off, to get maimed for life. That's all fine and good to send cannon fodder out for the furtherance of the Empire, but god forbid they should come and start selfishly demanding medical care for the severe wounds they have received.

This is why the maladorous maladroits in this maladminstration have been consistently underfunding -- by the billions -- VA healthcare. They just don't give a shit about veterans. And all those wounded veterans who are streaming back, with wounds that are far worse than those of us who were in Vietnam would have -- could have -- survived with...well, they're just an embarrassing inconvenience who are better left untreated so they can die an early death from those wounds. It's really a cost-accounting measure: If they die early, then they will no longer be a drain on the public treasury, and no longer a living reminder of the true cost of war.

And you, all of you fucking assholes with your yellow ribbons on the backsides of your gas-guzzling penis-subsitute SUVs who proudly proclaim that you "support the troops", how many of you have even bothered to visit a VA hospital and seen firsthand the results of this illegal war? How many of you have volunteered just a few hours of your precious time at your nearest VA hospital, outreach clinic or community health center? How many of you have written to your congressional representative or you senator to call for mandatory funding of VA health care?

[silence, sound of chirping crickets]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Assholes.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 728 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst last month and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

Those of you who think the proud military tradition of this nation needs to be upheld by those most likely to profit from it, be sure to sign the Buzzflash petition and demand that the Bush offspring enlist, or else bring the troops home. If it's not a cause noble enough for any of the children of the Bush Dynasty to join, then it's not noble enough for our sons and daughters to die for.

And check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

Friday Cat Blogging

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2436 2454
Total coalition forces dead: 222
Total Iraqi Dead: 100,000+

It has been 1714 days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive".
It has been 1156 days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began.
It has been 1116 days since "Mission Accomplished".
It was only 1347 days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII.

It is still 977 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards. Vote Democratic this fall! (as if that will help...)

Pelosi Says No to Impeachment?

This is an interesting development: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Chickenweasel) says that impeachment is "off the table" if the Dems win in November.

What the fuck? What the fuck is she up to? Has she drunk the koolaid, too?

The Repugnicans, when they impeached Clinton, had a master plan. They set out to raise the bar to a ludicrous height, and by so doing they gut-shot the Constitutional separation of powers that have served us well for over 200 years. They knew going in that they had a flimsy trumped-up case against a popular president, with absolutely zero chance of winning a conviction in the Senate, but they went ahead and did it anyway.

And it was a brilliant plan -- they pretty much guaranteed that unless their boy, Baby Doc (yes, the fix was in even way back then), was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy, impeachment would always be "off the table" because the weak-kneed girlie men (and women) in the Democratic Party would be too afraid their own shadows, too chickenshit to actually bring impeachment proceedings against Baby Doc, for fear of being accused of political retribution, of just wanting to "get even" with the Republicans for the Clinton impeachment.

Word on the street has it that Pelosi wanted impeachment off the table so the Rethug strategists couldn't run against it in November. You know, vote Republican, save the republic, that kind of shit.

What the fuck was she thinking about? Democrats ought to stand for something, and with this corrupt and evil bunch of outlaw BFEE assholes, impeachment ought to be just the beginning. Instead it's stillborn.

Once again I find myself in a party that lacks the balls to stand up for its own values. I guess I'm in the democratic wing of the Democratic Party, the faction that still believes in democracy, still believes that we have a government of laws, still believes in the United States Constitution. And I am sharing the party with a bunch of neo-right Republican-lite corporatist hacks who are nothing more than eager, willing lickspittles to their corporate overlords (can you hear me, Maria Cantwell?).

If we want to win in November, we have to be true to our roots and our core values. Nobody wants to vote for a me-too crybaby who votes progressive only when it doesn't matter -- like voting for cutting off the filibuster of Scalito, but also voting not to confirm. They want it both ways, and they will end up having it neither, and the rest of us will continue to suffer under the oppressive yoke of the neofascist Bushco Cartel.

Supporting Veterans -- Republican Style

Over at VA Watchdog, Larry Scott has a list of members of Congress, both House and Senate, compiled by the DAV, showing their relative ratings of their votes on veterans and veterans' issues.

No big surprise to those of us who follow these things, but the Democrats consistently have higher marks than the Republicans. Consistently and completely. So many Democrats got ratings of 100, and so many Republicans received ratings of 0. That's zero. As in nothing. As in naught. Zip. Zilch. Bupkis.

Including one Steven Buyer (R-Shitweasel), who just happens to chair the House Veterans Committee.

Take a look at the list and the ratings, and tell me again which party is it that supports America's veterans. And why have we allowed those goddam Repugnican thugs to get away with the Big Lie that they are the party that supports the troops and the veterans?

Six Thousand National Guardsmen to "Protect" Border

You there, you National Guardsmen in Iraq: We've got some good news for you. You're going back to the states. The bad news is those states are Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Out of one sandbox into another.

Who the fuck does Baby Doc think he's fooling? Never mind, I withdraw the question. It's an election year and he has to be seen doing "something" -- never mind what it is -- about the bugbear of illegal immigration. And with his poll numbers now below 30 percent, this is an ideal situation for him. Now all he needs is a couple of "border skirmishes" to pump up the jingoistic adrenaline and get some of that good old "protectin' the homeland" mojo working.

Right about now Mexico must be feeling nervous. The first time (1846) a large number of troops massed on their border with the US, it was heralding an invasion. The last time (1916), it was in advance of an incursion under the command of future WWI Commander General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. Coincidentally (or not), Pershing also initially had 6,000 troops under his command -- a number which grew to 12,000 by the time of the actual incursion -- or "punitive expedition" -- into Mexico proper.

I guess the only way to stave off United States imperialism is to have -- or say you have -- nuclear weapons. This is why Iran is in such a hurry to develop them. Of the so-called Axis of Evil, Iraq was invaded and North Korea left alone.

That certainly sends a clear message, so now I suppose Mexico will think it has to develop its own nuclear weapons program.

Every goddam country in the world who believes they have reason to fear US imperialism will also think that. And when that happens, we are fucked.

Innumeracy Still Reigns Supreme

I have argued in this blog before that Innumeracy is one of the worst things that has happened to this nation, even worse than illiteracy. It's really kind of a "pet peeve" of mine.

So here is a prime example of it, some dolt spewing phony statistics that might sound good to the average Moron-American reader, but which simply do not hold up under scrutiny.

Today my South Puget Sound outlet of the SCLM, The Olympian, carried a letter headlined Gasoline Situation isn’t so Bad After All from a local yokel who is apparently taking his talking points from some rightwing gasbag blowhard asshole (can you say "Rush Limbaugh"?).

The letter claimed that today's gas prices aren't so bad, Europeans pay much more per gallon, and that after taking into account inflation and the rise in the minimum wage, we are paying less per gallon, by about half, than we did in the gas-shortage 1970s. He also claims -- naturally without citation of a source -- that the price of gas during the so-called energy crisis was the equivalent in today's dollars of ... $7.00 per gallon!!

Well, he is entitled to his own opinion, but he is not entitled to his own facts.

It is more than disingenuous to point to those artificially-inflated gasoline price spikes of the so-called energy crisis/gas shortage of the 1970s as a base line and then claim that, after accounting for inflation and the rise of the minimum wage, today's prices are actually lower.

In fact, they are not.

According to zFacts.com, in October of 1973 gas was 39 cents a gallon; it hit its peak "gas shortage" price of 55 cents a gallon in July of 1974. In 2005 dollars (see the Inflation Calculator), gas leaped from $1.72 to $2.29 per gallon in just nine months.

Even at its prior historical high point, a brief spike to $1.37 per gallon at the start of the Iraq-Iran War in March of 1981, it was still only an inflation-adjusted $3.07 in today's dollars.

Neither, of course, is anywhere near that ridiculous $7.00 talking-point fantasy figure.

When I started college in the fall of 1963 gasoline was 30 cents a gallon (and even less at the off-brand stations -- remember them?). Keeping up with inflation, it ought to cost $1.83 a gallon. Instead it is nearly twice that amount.

The Federal minimum wage in 1963 was $1.25 per hour. Keeping up with inflation, it ought to be $7.64, but in 2006 it is still only $5.15.

In 1963 a minimum-wage employee had to work 14 minutes to buy a gallon of gas. Today that same employee has to work 37 minutes for that same gallon. Even in high-minimum-wage Washington State ($7.63 an hour), it now takes 25 minutes of work per gallon of gas.

When gas prices climb steadily towards $4.00 per gallon, when the chairman of Exxon-Mobil can retire with a $400 million bonus, when Big Oil profits are calculated in the billions of dollars per quarter, then it is time to impose an excess profits tax on these greedy corporations.

But thanks to our old friend Innumeracy, don't count on a groundswell of demand for that to happen.

Weekly "Bush Twins in Uniform" Watch

It has now been 721 days since Jenna and Not-Jenna Bush, the slacker offspring of Preznit Numnutz, graduated from college and they are still not in the uniform of the US armed services.

Why? Because they have other priorities. They are too busy partying down in Georgetown to show their support for the war by enlisting their chickenhawk-child selves into the military service, that's why.

Why can't they be like their royal counterparts in the UK? The Royal Family, unlike the Bush Crime Family, has a centuries-long tradition of honorable military service. Prince Andrew was a combat helicopter pilot in La Guerre de las Malvinas (aka the Falklands War), Prince William, direct heir to the throne, has entered Sandhurst (Britain's West Point), and little brother Prince Harry graduated from Sandhurst last month and could be on his way to Iraq as a cavalry lieutenant.

Those of you who think the proud military tradition of this nation needs to be upheld by those most likely to profit from it, be sure to sign the Buzzflash petition and demand that the Bush offspring enlist, or else bring the troops home. If it's not a cause noble enough for any of the children of the Bush Dynasty to join, then it's not noble enough for our sons and daughters to die for.

And check out The Yellow Elephant blog, which asks the question "It's their war; why aren't they fighting it?"

Karl Rove Back in the News

Word on the street has it that Mister Invisible, Karl Rove, is still in trouble and may end up in jail after all. Here's a little song to commemorate that event, should it come to pass. This is a parody of Joni Mitchell's Raised on Robbery:

Tweaked on Treachery
© 2005 Dennis Mansker

He was sitting in a cell at the graybar hotel,
Wondering how he got there,
Feeling sorry for himself.
A little secret-telling, giving up a name,
It was just a lady, Valerie Plame.
I said she's going down,
Wilson alone is such a shame,
He gets the blame, she gets the killin' flame.
I was a joker,
I claimed it was just a game.
Hey, Dubya, you got lots of clout,
I want out of prison,
And you can get me out.
Ain't no need of thinkin',
I was tweaked on treachery.

I talked to Bob Novak,
But I didn't say her name,
I said Joe Wilson's wife,
But it could be any dame.
I try and I try, I can't make any sense.
They're calling me a traitor,
I thought the truth was a defense.
I'm mean and I'm schemin',
I was tweaked on treachery.

Joe Wilson went to Niger once,
Was lookin' all around for yellowcake.
There wasn't any for Saddam to buy,
Showed our evidence was all fake.
He wrote a story in the New York Times
Put Bush in the ditch,
I won't get any rest,
That son of a bitch,
His wife's life's risky--
I was tweaked on treachery.

You know I'm not bad lookin',
But I do feel like a dope.
The guys call me honey,
When they want to play some "drop the soap".
Bush, where you goin'?
Don't go yet,
I'm still in prison, you're in my debt.
You said I'd be pardoned.
I was tweaked on treachery.

Friday by the Numbers

Total American dead in the Iraq War Illegal Occupation: 2436
Total coalition force soldiers dead: 220
Total Iraqi Dead: 100,000+

It has been 1704 days since Baby Doc said he'd get Osama Bin Laden "dead or alive".
It has been 1149 days since the illegal occupation of Iraq began.
It has been 1109 days since "Mission Accomplished".
It was only 1347 days between Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII.

It is still 984 days until the end of the BFEE Maladministration -- unless we impeach the whole sorry lot of the corrupt and criminal bastards. Vote Democratic this fall!

Friday Cat Blogging

PTSD? What PTSD?

Out of all the new veterans coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan, less than 25% of those who show signs of post-traumatic stress are referred for mental health treatment or evaulation.

According to a GAO report, about 5% of veterans returning from combat tours showed signs of being at risk. This in itself is a questionable number. Apparently someone interviewed these guys when they got back and made a decision based on their answers to a series of questions whether they were affected by PTSD.

Bullshit. It can take literally years for PTSD symptoms to appear. I know this from personal experience with friends of mine who were in Vietnam thirty-plus years ago. Asking a few loaded questions the minute someone steps off the plane is not going to get you anywhere. Take a look at the questions at the bottom of the news story and tell me what you would do. You just got off the plane, you haven't seen your family in a year, and some whitecoat asshole is asking a bunch of questions, a "yes" answer to any one of which could trigger an evaluation and a delay in getting home.

Let's do a followup on these same guys in a year or two or twelve and see if the PTSD symptoms develop over time. I think you will see a very different set of statistics.

President Jebby? Yeah, Surprise, Surprise

In a non-news story that at this point should surprise absolutely no one, Baby Doc is starting to talk up baby brother Jebby as the next pResident.

Jebby has said he won't run in 2008, but what the fuck does that mean? He's a Bush, for crissakes. That's what they do. They lie.

The ABC news story points out that while Der Monkey Fuehrer is posting polls in the low thirties, 55 percent of Florida voters think Jebby is doing a good job.

Only 55%. The ABC whore media outlet makes it out that this is something to crow over. Well, in comparison to Big Brother's polls, I guess it is, but you'd think someone who thinks he is presidential material would be ashamed of 55%, not proud of it. I don't know now what Baby Doc's approval ratings were when he was goobernator of Tex-ass, but I'm willing to be that the knuckledragging redneck participants in the slanted Texas polls gave him a higher rating than that. And that was after seeing firsthand what the little fucker did to their state.

I'm tempted to say that this is something worth watching, but I have the feeling that it's already a slam-dunk and Baby Bush is going to be the nominee. The BFEE can't afford to let the office slip to a lesser mortal.

Sorry, John McCain. All that sucking up you've been doing to the religious-right-fundo-wackjobs will have been for naught. It won't have gotten you the nomination, but all you will have lost is your dignity, self-respect, integrity and soul.

Work for the Disabled? Not.

In a surprising story out of Texas, we learn that 70 Federal agents raided a nonprofit corporation in El Paso alleging the company defrauded the government.

The National Center for Employment of the Disabled had a series of big fat lucrative government contracts ($579.9 million in no-bid defense contracts) to provide the US Army with uniforms and hazmat suits, with the contractual proviso that 75% of the work had to be performed by the severely disabled.

Turns out that the actual number was somewhat less than that: 60%? 50%? No, it was actually 7.8%.

Texas? Corruption? Outright theft from the government? CEO likely a friend of Baby Doc? Check, check and double check. Nothing more to see here. Move along...

Tens of Millions

That's how many phone records the government has gone through, using "data mining" techniques, in the War on Terra^tm. There's a chance yours are in there. Chances are even better that those of us out here in Left Blogistan who have been, shall we say, less reticent in our criticism of One Party Rule are also in there.

Tens of millions of telephone records. Are all of those people in telephone contact with Al Qaeda? Probably not, since the data mining was intended to seek out patterns of suspected "terrorist activity". Whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean. When I go out this Saturday to wave Stop the War signs on my local freeway overpass, that can be considered by the jackbooted thugs in the BFEE Police State to be potential "terrorist activity". Remember, if you're not with us, you are with the terrorists.

"No laws were broken," Baby Doc had the audacity to say today in a hastily-convened appearance after the USA Today story broke yesterday. He denied that his maladminstration is "trolling through the personal lives of Americans".

Liar.

Only out-of-country calls are alleged by the government to have been analyzed. Bullshit. Even if that were true -- which I seriously doubt -- the NSA sill has a huge database of domestic calls in their possession, and if the data exists, it will be analyzed. I work in a statistical research unit, and I know what the siren song of raw data can do to a hotshot analyst; there's no way that the data won't be analyzed.

The major telephone service providers -- Verizon, Bell South and ATT -- were happy to provide NSA with their records. I'm happy to say, however, that Qwest, standing almost alone, told the government to pound sand. Not that it does me any good; they are my phone service provider, but I have Verizon mobile and that's where I make all my long-distance calls.

And finally, let's not forget that this happened at NSA under the watch of General Mikey, and this is reason enough to stop his nomination as head of the CIA. But I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

Oceana vs. Eastasia

Oceana was at war with Eastasia. Oceana had always been at war with Eastasia. Except when Oceana was at war with Eurasia, and then it had always been at war with Eurasia.

That was from Orwell's 1984, in case you didn't recognize it.

Why am I telling you this? Because the Taliban -- you remember them, fundo Islamist nutcases who took over Afghanistan and shielded Osama Bin Forgotten -- are no longer considered terrorists.

Yep, even though they are still killing American soldiers in their little corner of the sandbox, according the the US State Department, they didn't make the cut. Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hizbullah all did, but not our good buddies in the Taliban.

Check it out and see if you can figure it out. I sure as hell can't. These fundo-religio-wacko nutsack thugs are engaged in behavior that anywhere else in the world would get them branded as terrorists.

Not by our State Department, though. Kindasleazy Rice must know something we don't know. I wonder what it is...